Training Sessions on E-rate Form 471 Announced

The deadline for filing E-rate form 471 applications for the 2014-2015 school/funding year has been announced. E-rate form 471 may be filed online starting at 11:00 a.m. CST on Thursday, January 9, 2014. The deadline for completing Form 471 is 10:59 p.m. CST on Wednesday, March 26, 2014.

Because form 470 MUST be filed no less than 28 days before filing form 471, this means that E-rate form 470 must be filed no later than February 26, 2014.  However, you are strongly urged to file form 470 now!  You don't need to wait until January or February to file for 470.  If you missed the training webinar on filing form 470, contact Lance Wilhelm at lwilhelm@heartlandaea.org.

The Form 471 is being revised and all applicants are encouraged to participate in training. Training sessions for Form 471 are as follows:

Completing Form 471:  (select one)
Wednesday, January 15, 9:00-11:00 a.m.
Thursday, January 16, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 28, 10:00 a.m.-noon
Wednesday, February 5, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

To participate in any of the above sessions, go to http://iowa.adobeconnect.com/e-rate/ and select “enter as a guest.”  There is no need to sign up in advance for any session.

Heartland AEA Website Goes Mobile

In response to the ever-growing population of mobile users, Heartland AEA is pleased to debut its new mobile website! This website will automatically load on a web browser (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.) when it is accessed on a smartphone or tablet device. It is specially designed to be mobile-friendly and features large buttons to tap with your fingers instead of small text-based links that you are accustomed to clicking when using a computer.

The mobile site is not a full recreation of our main website—it features those items that we know our clients use most often: 

• Professional Development Catalog 
• Reserve Materials 
• Online Resources 
• News 
• Calendar (coming soon!)
• Careers 
• Staff Directory 
• Locations 
• Contact Us

Some of you may be wondering why we chose to do a mobile site over an app since apps are so popular right now. Here are a few reasons why: 

• Heartland AEA didn’t need to go through Apple or Android to have an app approved, and we don’t need to go through them to have it updated, so we have control over and easy publishing rights to the content on the site. 
• Mobile sites are easier to find than apps that have to be searched for on the App Store or Android Market. 
• A mobile site doesn’t have to be downloaded to your device as an app would, so it does not take up valuable data on your phone or tablet. Updates don’t have to be downloaded, either. 
• Mobile websites are always available for users to return to them. 
• Mobile websites are accessible across platforms and can be easily shared among users and search engines.

We encourage you to take out your mobile devices and check out the mobile site! Send your feedback to comms@heartlandaea.org. Please spread the word about the site to your educators, students and families!

Agency Exploring Purchase of Full-Color, Short-Run Digital Envelope Printer

Heartland AEA is exploring the purchase of a digital envelope printer to enhance the products that Creative Services can provide. New features of this printer would include:

• Full-color printing on envelopes that will be an exact match to your letterhead
• Personalized addressing of envelopes
• No minimum order quantity
• Various envelope sizes and styles

If this sounds like something you would take advantage of, please contact our Creative Services Department at creativeservices@heartlandaea.org to let them know your interest. Our goal is to make this an available option by second semester.

Heartland AEA Creative Services Shaves Up a Good Incentive

Our creative services staff were able to help out Pleasantville Elementary with a reading incentive for students. Read more about the incentive below and don't hesitate to contact creativeservices@heartlandaea.org for things we can create to help motivate your students! Special thanks to Pleasantville Elementary for sharing your fun photos.

From the principal:

"Students earned a mustache each week they read a certain amount of minutes each week. The number of minutes read was recorded on a calendar. While we encouraged students to read at home daily, students had all week to meet the assigned number of minutes.

The goal was for each grade level classroom to earn a minimum of 60 mustaches by the end of the month. As a reward for meeting the goal of 60 mustaches, their teacher wore a mustache all day."

December 2013 School Leader Update

Click here to find a link to the December 2013 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education.

SchoolReach Webinar on Teen Depression

Click here to register for a webinar with Dr. Scott Poland on teen depression taking place on Thursday, December 12. Dr. Poland, a former president of the National Association of School Psychologists and a school crisis prevention expert, will speak on the causes of teen depression and what school leaders can do to help teens who are struggling. 

The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.